Let’s get this out of the way right away — the ride today was far from pleasant. It ended with such heat and humidity, it reminded me why I prefer to get all of my riding done early in the day. But 11 was not early enough. Sure, the temps were in the mid-eighties, but by the end of the ride, the “feels like” temperatures were easily pushing 100.
Still, a day on the bike in Korea is a wonderful experience. I’ve just got to do more to mitigate the heat. Maybe set out at 4? Not unreasonable. Perhaps even earlier. As long as I get home by 10, right?
As for the ride, I’d done a good part of it before. A little visit to Everland (and their wonderful restroom to the left of the main entrance), then down the river that runs from Yongin to Gwangju, a turn over the ridge to Seongnam, catch the Tancheon River path south, and we’re home (let me add here that river paths, as good as they sound, generally suck — mainly for the monotony, particularly in the pedaling, which gives little variation).
Saw some decent things, but was especially impressed by the descent from the top of that ridge into Seongnam. Winding, well-paved, very few cars (they prefer the expressway (the 3) that was built to replace this road and that goes right through the mountain instead of over). Just beautiful. We’re definitely going back this fall when the leaves are changing, and as a bonus, the point at which we enter the Tancheon River path is not far from another path that will take us up the “Beautiful Climb” that we’ve taken a couple of times. That’s going to be a good autumn ride once we put it all together…and the temps are about 20 degrees cooler.
Stay tuned for that one.
